December 27, 2010 |

Well, we had about a full sixty minutes to absorb the Ravens latest win and third consecutive berth into the playoffs, before the sobering reality of everyday life and the dangers of temptation crashed the party ….

While news of Sergio Kindle’s DWI arrest, early Sunday morning, does not totally undermine or extinguish the sense of accomplishment, it does send a souring note to everyone: THE RAVENS MAY END UP REGRETTING THEIR FIRST SELECTION OF THE 2010 NFL DRAFT.

And, it has nothing to do with his football playing skills …..

According to Howard County Police, Kindle was arrested shortly after 4:09am and subsequently charged with Driving While Intoxicated, Driving Under The Influence of Alcohol and various traffic-related infractions.

Obviously, this is not Kindle’s first brush with law enforcement, and more significantly it’s not his first arrest for charges related to operating a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol. In 2007, he was arrested, in Texas, for offenses similar to Sunday’s incident.

And, as we’ve known, additional circumstances of questionable behavior exist, as well …..

In 2009, he crashed his vehicle into a building, at around 2am, while supposedly TEXT MESSAGING. Immediately following that crash, he pushed the car back into the street and fled the scene – while not reporting the incident until the following day.

Smell fishy? It should ….

Kindle never faced any criminal charges in relation to the 2009 incident, and he was not suspended from the Texas Longhorns football program. It should be noted that he was suspended three games for the 2007 incident.

I suppose many assumptions and conclusions can be drawn from the news of Sunday morning’s arrest. For me, none of these opinions should be related to football or the perceived future of the Baltimore Ravens organization.

I’ll be blunt …. Sergio Kindle obviously has a problem. I’m not saying, nor suggesting he has a dependence upon alcohol. I don’t know him and any such assessment would be made from an uninformed and ignorant standpoint.

However, I do think it’s quite fair to say this young man has a propensity to make some very poor decisions, while drinking. And, for such indiscretions, he must be held accountable . At the same time, it’s the burden of Howard County prosecutors to ensure Kindle finally gets IT; driving a vehicle, while influenced by alcohol, has serious ramifications.

If convicted, should he be incarcerated? I don’t know …. I don’t know the magnitude of this latest incident, nor do I know the intimate details of his arrest, in Texas.

But, I do know this …..

Whenever someone drinks alcohol, their ability to drive a vehicle is impaired. Such hindrances can lead anyone to make the poorest reactions – in just a split second’s time.

Those “mistakes” can lead to the impaired driver killing themselves and any passengers. Or, more significantly, they can kill a few members of a family in that minivan they just hit in a head-on collision, as they drove home from visiting loved ones on the Christmas holiday.

Don’t tell me I’m being dramatic or sensationalizing an incident, because I’m not even scratching the surface of the hell and sorrow that follows when somebody’s life ends at the hands of a drunken driver.

In fairness, I’ll disclose that I’ve met Sergio Kindle on one occasion and he seemed like a genuinely kindhearted man. He gave me every indication that he loves and cares about people and was openly friendly to everyone who approached him.